This Week's D.C. Deal Sheet

Lidl announced its second store in Washington, D.C., just weeks after the international grocery chain broke ground on its location at Skyland Town Center.

The new location at 3100 14th St. NW will take up 27K SF on the ground floor of the DC USA retail complex. The development first opened in 2008.

This will be the second full-service grocer to open near the Columbia Heights Metro station — Giant operates a nearby space on Park Road. Target, located on the second and third floors of DC USA, also sells groceries.

LEASES

Gordon Ramsay North America, the standalone restaurant group from the famous chef of the small screen, submitted plans to open a Hell’s Kitchen restaurant at 652 Wharf St. SW. The concept would occupy 16K SF across two floors of one of the Water buildings in The Wharf’s Phase 2, slated to complete in October. The plans must first be approved by the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, which has jurisdiction over several properties along the waterfront, the Washington Business Journal first reported.

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AMC announced it will take over the former ArcLight Cinema in Westfield Montgomery Mall and reopen in March. The 16-auditorium theater first opened in 2014, in time for the release of Christopher Nolan's Interstellar, and featured ticket kiosks instead of the traditional box office, Bethesda Beat reported at the time. 

Westfield Montgomery mall is undergoing a transformation of its own: mall owner ​​Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield received approval from Montgomery County in 2020 to embark on a massive three-phase redevelopment that will eventually bring 717 residential units and 2.9M SF of new retail space to the mall. That redevelopment is slated to finish around 2030.

JLL announced it was slightly expanding its Northern Virginia office with a new lease at Lerner Enterprises’ 1800 Tysons Blvd. The lease is the latest vote of confidence for office space in Tysons, where Lerner is also planning to build a brand-new trophy-class office building at 1725 Tysons Blvd. JLL’s new home is connected to the rest of the Tysons II development, including the Galleria and The Ritz-Carlton Hotel, via a climate-controlled walkway.

DEALS

New York-based Marx Realty acquired its second D.C. property since the pandemic began, acquiring an office building at 2121 Wisconsin Ave. NW in a $27.7M deal. The six-story, 110K SF office building is anchored in part by Nexstar Media Group, which recently expanded its footprint to nearly 29K SF. The building was built in 1960 and renovated in 2000. Marx said it was attracted by the strong tenancy and location in the Georgetown/Glover Park neighborhood. Drew Flood of Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller, JBG Smith, in the sale and Jack Kraus, Paul DiCarlo and Nick Romanoff of Marx represented the buyer, Commercial Observer first reported.

CONSTRUCTION MILESTONES

The Howard Hughes Corp. announced plans to invest $325M across up to 2M SF of development in downtown Columbia, Maryland, to create the Lakefront District. The first phase of the district will be a $45.8M, 86K SF medical office building. The four-story building will include public spaces like a boardwalk-style terrace with views of Lake Kittamaqundi and space for exercise classes. Howard Hughes expects to complete the building in early 2024.

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Madison Investments opened Collection 14, a mixed-use development at 1400 W St. NW on Monday. The D.C.-based development firm first purchased the space in 2018 from Martha’s Table, allowing the nonprofit to relocate to Ward 8.

The new space includes 233 residential units and 30K SF of retail, and it also has a 4K SF event space and office space totaling a little over 5K SF. The apartments are already 30% leased, according to a press release.

FINANCING

Merchants Capital secured a $110M financing deal to push forward a workforce development housing complex in Ward 7. Through the deal, a joint venture of City Interests Development Partners and Ravinia Capital Group will receive loans for Parkside 8 and Parkside 10, two buildings at a master-planned, mixed-use development connected to the Minnesota Avenue Metro station. The new buildings will feature 14K SF of retail and 230 total residential units, some of which will be reserved for residents earning between 80% and 120% of area median income. 

The JV received $56M from Merchants Bank of Indiana for construction and $59M to permanently finance the buildings through Freddie Mac Non-Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Forward Commitments and Freddie Mac Permanent Loans.